I feel somewhat qualified to comment on this, because I have been carrying a so called defensive knife ever since I was in the 8th grade in high school, I am almost 45years old at this time.

OK, fixed blade knives are great but not a carry option for most of us, so lets talk about folders. It is my opinion that most of these so called defensive knives made today are designed by people more interested in getting sales than giving us what we really need. I learned to open a folder with one hand years ago, before anyone ever come out with a stud or hole in the blade. Frankly a lot of these models out now are poorly designed for quick opening and the pocket spring clips are in the wrong place also. Some are real mean looking but they don't cut the mustard in actual use. The old Buck folding hunter is a better combat knife than most of the newer models, and opens faster too IMHO. One thing that really -CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED--CENSORED- me off is the stupid designs that have an opening stud but then they nest it in the handle to the point that it is nearly useless. And on top of that many knives have so little blade accessable in the closed position there is no way you can get ahold of it and open it quick.

Here are some good design features I think a combat knife should have.

1. An easy opening blade with a positive lock.
2. No safeties of any kind that must be activated first. We don't need any spring loaded assistance of any kind either.
3. A blade of about 3 1/2 inches for legal reasons, other wise a bigger blade might be prefered.
4. The handle should be designed in a manner that leaves a fair amount of blade showing so that no stud or hole in the blade is actually needed to open quickly.
5. A pocket clip mounted on the opposite end of the blade hinge pin. It should be reversable from one side of the knife to the other.
6. A blade heavy enough that it will not break due to side pressure very easy.
7. personally I don't care for linner locks much mainly because many are not that positive and they are not amidestrious. knife makers like them because they are cheap to make IMHO.
8. With this design you should be able to grab this knife by the handle and with a quick flip of the wrist open the blade on the draw in one swift motion without even touching the blade. This is my prefered method for self defense.

A good exampe of this knife design is made by Benchmade. My current favorite is called the " OSBORNE" by Benchmade. I also have a bigger version of this same design made by Benchmade with a 4 inch blade. These knive also have a sliding crossbolt lock that is very postive and totally amidextrious. I am not trying to sell Benchmade knives but I do really like this design and I think it is superior to most of its competition. If someone else makes its equal then that is fine also.

With a knife if this design I can probably draw this knife and get it in action in less than 1/2 a second.

There is so much junk being made by so many knife makers out there that I just felt I had to comment on this.

Nevada Fitch

April 21, 2002, 11:00 PM

Now before someone calls me on it, I just wanted to say that the knife I mentioned made by Benchmade is not perfect. It does have a stud on it that is not really that useful and the handle does not leave enought blade exposed to suit me either,but despite it faults it still works very well due to the easy opening blade and my method of opening the blade by fliping my wrist as I draw the knife from my pocket.

Joe Demko

April 22, 2002, 08:28 AM

In many jurisdictions, any folder loose enough to flick open with a snap of the wrist will promptly be defined as a gravity knife and land you in as much fecal material as any switchblade. The Buck folding hunter is a great knife with the exception that the handle is far chunkier and heavier than it needs to be. I am also not a great fan of brass for anything other than appearance. Buck folding hunters, if they are used as a working knife, have an unfortuneate tendency to loosen up at the blade/handle pivot. The various models that use the same blade in a thermoplastic handle are actuall superior, IMO.

Carbon_15

April 22, 2002, 08:56 AM

AMEN to #5
are you listening knife makers...Tip down $UCK$

jar

April 22, 2002, 11:57 AM

Well, I guess I'm different and so maybe that's why manufacturers make knives in both tip up and tip down. I have them both ways and it really seems to depend on the knife which way it works best. I even have a couple that I wish were the other way :)

There's a lot of dissagreement about tip up or down an=mong the best makers out there. My Crawfords are all tip downers while my Terzuolas are tip up. I don't think you can find two folk who have designed more successful knives than Crawford and Terzuola.

But today, there are more and more fixed blade options. Once a couple of the pioneers like Fitch and Primos started making smaller tactical knives that could either be concealed in a pocket sheath or worn with a fancy sheath like an accessory, many of the other makers have climbed on board. I find that I can wear my Dress Tactical just about everywhere and because it doesn't look threatening, no one really objects.